MONEY HIDDEN IN HOP BALES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22520, 30 September 1938, Page 19

MONEY HIDDEN IN HOP BALES

GERMAN REFUGEE'S RUSE USER OF FALSE PASSPORT ARRESTED ACTIVITY OF INTERNATIONAL GANG (nOX OU» OWK COaEESPOHBKKT.) LONDON, September 1. An ingenious method of smuggling money out of Germany has been revealed at Harwich. Customs officers were called on to deal with a considerable quantity of hops which had arrived from Germany. The owner of some of the bales had travelled in the same ship as the hops. He told the customs officers that all the money he possessed was hidden in one ; of the bales. When the bale he indicated was opened, £SOOO in Bank of England notes of large denominations was discovered secreted in small tubes in the centre. The owner did not reveal how he obtained such a large sum of English money in Germany. He stated, however, that, having got it. he. thought of consigning the hops to himself at Harwich, after secreting the money in one of the bales. Having collected his wealth, the man is now on his way to Kenya, where he intends to settle. There is no law against bringing money into England in such a manner, but rigid precautions are taken in Germany to prevent money leaving the country. Forged Passports The arrest in Boulogne of a German refugee, who tried to reach London with a false passport to join his wife and children, has put the French police on the track of a Paris gang specialising in forged passports. The refugee, Hans Hirschfeld, aged 35, a Jewish businessman in Berlin, fled to Vienna when Hitler came to power; when the Nazis marched into Austria he fled again. He came to England with his wife and son. They were admitted, but he was sent back, and went to Paris. Hirschfeld met an Austrian refugee in Paris and brought from him a passport for £l2 in the name of Yan Taussig, tradesman. He reached Folkestone again, but immigration officers refused to allow him in England. He was sent back to Boulogne. Questioned by the French police, he confessed that he had used a false passport. In an alleged statement, the man said that he once owned a factory in Berlin employing 200 people, but the German authorities confiscated all his possessions. An Earlier Round-up From the man's statement the French police believe that they are on the track of a gang of passport traffickers, most of whom were rounded up earlier this year. Then, after months of activity by the French and British police and immigration officials, 24 people, mostly Poles and Hungarians, were arrested. After these arrests the gang broke up. The present unrest in Central Europe has prompted members to reform the gang and start activities afresh There have, however, been only isolated cases of foreigners arriving in England with false passports. In almost every case the person concerned has been turned back at the port of entry by an immigration officer wno has noticed the forgery. The authorities believe that the passport forging organisation has an agency ?n this country, but in spite of investigation by socially-selected Scotland Yard men, no evidence has been obtained. ,